Real control and real choice

Older people want real choice and control over their own care. The Australian Government is making changes to help people understand, access and navigate aged care so they can make informed choices.

What we’ve heard

Through consultation and engagement with older people, aged care providers, peak organisations and advocacy groups and technical experts, we know that:

• older people want clear information to help them make choices about their aged care

• providers want to improve the quality of services provided to older people

• more transparency is needed around the quality of aged care services

• we need to be able to measure quality across important areas of care.

Star Ratings

Star Ratings help older people and their representatives compare the quality of residential aged care homes.

All residential aged care homes will receive
an overall Star Rating and ratings against 4 sub-categories:

• residents’ experience

• compliance

• staffing

• quality measures.

Star Ratings are available via the ‘Find a provider’ section of the My Aged Care website.

Quality indicators

Quality indicators measure important areas of care affecting people’s health and wellbeing. From April 2023, we will introduce 6 additional quality indicators in residential aged care:

• activities of daily living

• incontinence care

• hospitalisation

• workforce

• consumer experience

• quality of life.

The new quality indicators support:

• older people and their families with information to make choices about residential aged care

• providers to measure, monitor and improve the quality of care they provide to older people

• government to improve policy and systems by providing measures of aged care quality.

Residents' experience surveys

Listening to the experiences of aged care residents helps us better understand the quality of care they receive. Each year we are interviewing around 20 per cent of people living in residential aged care homes across Australia. This includes vulnerable residents, people from diverse cultures and people with special needs.

The information collected is included in a Resident Experience Report and provided to aged care homes to identify areas for improvement and further increase the quality of care they provide.

Monthly Care Statements

Residential aged care providers will be required to provide a Monthly Care Statement to all residents and their representatives. This will outline the care the resident received, as well as any significant changes or events that occurred during the previous month. These statements are not financial in nature and are intended to supplement, not replace, existing communication practices.

Monthly Care Statements will improve transparency and accountability around the clinical care of aged care residents. A pilot program, from November 2022 until June 2023, will ensure residents and providers are involved in the design of the statements, and inform timing of implementation.